


Seeing the World in Technocolor

by BloopsieDaisy



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23679538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloopsieDaisy/pseuds/BloopsieDaisy
Summary: "Everyone has a soulmate. When you reach puberty, your eyes change to match the hair color of your soulmate. Once a pair of soulmates kiss for the first time, their eyes flash in a burst of color, then revert back to their original color from before puberty."
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Ryan Haywood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 104





	Seeing the World in Technocolor

Everyone has a soulmate. When you reach puberty, your eyes change to match the hair color of your soulmate. Once a pair of soulmates kiss for the first time, their eyes flash in a burst of color, then revert back to their original color from before puberty.

Ryan never really paid any of that soulmates stuff any mind. Not because he didn't believe in it, or that he thought it was all bogus. He just always thought he would just let things happen naturally. That, and the fact that Ryan never had the free brain space to think about it much.

Ryan was the manager of a local internet cafe, which kept him very busy. From making sure all tech was running smoothly, to keeping the kitchen stocked, that display cases were filled with delicious treats. All that and much, much more. The staff he had were amazing and super helpful with everything. All their regulars loved them. They were also some of the best friends Ryan ever had. So they weren't afraid to tell Ryan when he was overworked or wrong on something, or even;

“Ryan, you seriously need to get a social life.”

“What? I have a social life. I'm very social.”

“Your coworkers don't count. Neither do our customers.” Fiona said with a roll of the eyes. “You're never going to find your soulmate if you are always cooped up in here. Same goes for your apartment.”

“I'm fine Fiona. I appreciate the concern for my well-being, but I'm fine.” Ryan did appreciate the care and concern Fiona and the others had for him. Just sometimes their methods of showing it were a little unorthodox. “I have to finish this paperwork. The owners want to have an event here. They're talking about maybe a battle of the bands sort of thing. And I still have to figure that all out for them if we are to have such an event here.”

They had a decent size stage for open mic nights, or just one small band. But this would be a lot of bands and acts, switching them and their equipment out in an effective manner throughout the show. Plus the owners wanted to try a special event menu during it, so Ryan had to figure that out too. 

“You could always fave at least one of us help with that y'know.” suggested Fiona. Ryan let out a hard sigh. He knew she was right.

“Yeah. When Jon comes in tomorrow I'll see if he can jump in and help.” Ryan stood from his desk, knees popping at the movement after being still for so long. As he stretched out Fiona just laughed and called him an old man. As that happened the office door opened and Matt, one of the front of house staff, came in.

“Hey guys. Your crush is here Ryan. Thought you'd want to know and maybe be the one to help him out.”

“He's not a crush!” Ryan defended with pink cheeks. “He's just a regular.”

“Sure dude.” said Matt, leaving with a knowing smile. Ryan just grumbled and followed Matt out.

At the counter stood a short, strong young man. He had brown hair and a small beard. His eyes were a dusty gold color, pretty color to Ryan's hair, some would say. But that's a common hair color. Just like the shade of brown that Ryan's eyes were. “Hello Jeremy. How are you doing today?” Ryan greeted with a smile. As much as he would love it if he and Jeremy were indeed soulmates, he didn't think he was that fortunate to have that. He didn't think Jeremy would be into a workaholic like him anyway.

“Hey Ryan! I wanted to see if the usual room was open for grabs?” Jeremy asked. He was always so bright and smiling. Ryan took out a tablet and pulled something up on it.

“Looks like it's free. It's yours to use now.” He tapped the screen a couple times before looking back to Jeremy. “Anything else?”

“Oh yeah. Some of the others will be coming by too. Can I get a couple orders of wings and a pizza sent over to the room too?”

“So the usual room for the usual group with the usual amount of food?” chuckled Ryan.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jeremy gave an embarrassed laugh.

“What are you all working on this time?” Ryan asked they exchanged money.

“Well, I'm working on a new song. Most of them just want to chill and enjoy the awesome food you got here.”

“Oh, that's cool. I would like to hear it when it's done. If you're ok with that.”

“Yeah! Totally!” Jeremy beamed at that. Ryan couldn't help but think he looked adorable in his excitement. He handed Jeremy the tablet.

“Alright then, just sign the usual 'don't break the room or I'll charge you for it' page and then the room is all yours.”

“You need a better name for the page.” laughed Jeremy as he signed. He handed the tablet back and took the room key from Ryan.

“It's either that or Fiona's suggestion of the 'don't be a dumb bitch' clause.” Jeremy left laughing and smiling as Ryan waved him bye.

\----------

The next couple of days had Ryan primarily stuck in the office. Barely anyone saw him come out, other than when it was time to finally go home. By week's end he finally had all the logistics and needed paperwork done for the battle of the bands event. “Thank you so much for all your help Jon. You are a real life saver.”

“Any time man. You keep forgetting you hired me more for just my pretty face and charm.” Jon sassed. As Ryan laughed Jon got distracted as his phone went off. There was a text message with a picture attached. The second Jon opened it and saw the contents his eyes went wide. “Uh Ryan, you're gonna want to go out to the front.”

“What, why?”

“Oh no. I'm not spoiling the surprise.” Jon snickered, still looking and giggling at his phone. “Just go out there.” Ryan gave a confused look before getting up and leaving the room. What made Jon go all weird and cryptic all of a sudden?

When Ryan came out to he just went straight to the front on the other side of the counter. As he walked out he tried looking for anything out of place. “Oh Ryan, perfect timing!” Ryan turned to see Matt coming out with a full tray of drinks. “Could you take this to your crush's room? Thanks dude.” Before Ryan could say anything Matt was already pushing the drinks in his hands and then he was gone. Now more confused than ever, Ryan stood there with an array of beverages on his hands. Guess he better go deliver them. His crush's room? That meant Jeremy was here.

Ryan got to the room and looked in before going in. It was only a couple of them this time. He balanced the tray on one hand as he opened the door with the other. “I was told these were for you all.” Everyone looked up at the new voice, making all eyes on Ryan now.

“Hey Ryan! Since when does the boss do grunt work like bringing drinks?” said Michael with a smirk.

“I was coerced into it. Maybe it's Backwards Day and I didn't know it.” As they joked Ryan hadn't noticed Jeremy getting up and walking towards him. He was surprised when the other man was suddenly at his side and grabbing a drink from him. There was also another think that startled him.

The green. Green hair. On Jeremy. Jeremy dyed his hair green and it looked really good on him. Usually Ryan didn't think the super vibrant hair dyes looked good most of the time. But on Jeremy it looked really well done. It came out so good. “Y-you changed your hair.”

“Oh yeah. What do you think? Dumb right?” Jeremy mumbled. He fiddled with the straw in his drink, eyes looking anywhere but at Ryan.

“No no no! It looks great.” God Ryan sounded like a babbling teen. “It suits you. I promise.”

“Really? Even though my hair is as green as an energy drink?” He joked.

“Of course. I would never lie about such a thing.” Ryan assured. Jeremy still gave him a look like he was trying to see if he was really lying to him. Ryan would never. Especially not to Jeremy. So why with the weird staring?

Before Ryan could ask Jeremy broke away. “Thanks Ryan! Now I know I look good and these guys are just haters.” Michael gave the finger and the other laughed, as Jeremy rejoined them at the table.

That was strange. Usually the others were the ones being weird or acting childish. Jeremy was rarely the source of it, though not impossible. Maybe Ryan was imagining it. This how day has had him so stressed out. Ryan left and went back to put things away. Matt was apparently waiting for him. “So, how's your boy doing?” He asked.

“Oh, he's fine. Dyed his hair, but otherwise he's the same as always.” 

“You alright there Rye?”

“Yeah, I'm just tired I guess.” Ryan rubbed at his eyes. The started hurting out of nowhere. Maybe he strained them staring at papers and a computer screen all day. Eye strain or not they were hurting like a bitch right now.

“You've been working a lot lately. Maybe you should go home early.” Matt suggested.

“Skipping tomorrow is a maybe.” Ryan dropped his hands and moved to behind the counter towards the sink they had there. He splashed some water in his face and it seemed to lessen some of the eye pain. “Let me drop some stuff off to the owners and then I'll head home.”

Ryan dried his face and hands. When he turned and faced Matt again his expression changed, but quickly went back. “Take it easy man.” He said with a warm smile. “Try not to work yourself too hard.” Great, now Matt was acting weirder than usual. Ryan seriously needed some sleep.

As Ryan left he missed Matt rushing to pull out his phone to hurriedly text someone.

\----------

Two weeks went by, and during that time Ryan did his best to try and relax more. Not to overwork himself so much. He did only the amount of work required of him and not that much more. Especially since this morning the owners called to tell him the date the had decided on for the event. Jon had already designed posters and was waiting on printing them out. But now there was a date so he slapped it on and started printing.

“Ok! It's done!” Jon cheered, storming out of the office. He was practically dancing as he waved the posters around, proud of his work.

“You finished? I thought you had gone and died in there or something.” joked Fiona. “It got to quiet and peaceful out here.”

“Hey. It takes time to make a quality poster that captures a person's attention. We need people to come to this thing if we want to be able to hold more events.” Jon left a few at the counter, Fiona and Matt both took one to look at.

“Y'know he's got a point.” said Matt. “Wouldn't be too bad to have more stuff going on around here.” Fiona gave a 'whatever' before leaving the two guys to themselves. As she left Ryan had come out, balancing a tray of treats on one hand. The other hand was busy rubbing at his eyes again. “You alright there Ryan?”

“Yeah, just peachy.” hissed Ryan. “My eyes are burning again. Out of nowhere, they just felt like they were lit on fire.” Ryan set the tray on top of the display case so he didn't chance dropping them. He then began to use both hands to rub at his poor eyes.

Matt walked over, batting his manager's hands away so he could try and help. “Something probably flew in or something. Just open them and let me take a look.” Ryan groaned in annoyance, but listened to the direction. His eyes were watering a lot but as far as Matt could tell nothing was in his eyes. But Matt did notice something much more interesting about Ryan's eyes as he looked at them. It was apparent by the look on his face. “I don't see anything. Maybe it's just a case of dry eyes.”

“I did forget to put my eye drops in my bag this morning. And I ran out here.” Ryan took that as the reason for his discomfort. “I'm going to go pop out my contacts after I finish this. Then I'll just wear my glasses for the rest of my shift.” He then turned to the display case to fill it with the treats he had brought out.

Matt stepped off to the side, going over to Jon who was putting some of his posters. “So is the boss going blind or what?”

“Not blind. His reds were a bit red though.” Matt said with a sly smile. He pulled out his phone when the doors opened, and Jeremy came walking in.

“Hey guys. What'cha up to?”

“Not much. Jon's hanging up his newest masterpiece.” Matt said as he pointed out the poster that was now on the wall.

“You guys are having a battle of the bands here?” Jeremy sounded amazed but also baffled by the idea. Probably because this wasn't the typical venue for such an event.

“It was the owners' idea. You should totally enter Jeremy.”

“I don't know. Maybe.” Jeremy liked his stuff, but didn't really know if it was good enough for a competition. He's done a few small shows before, but a competition was something different.

“Dude do it!” encouraged Matt. “I know Ryan would love to hear you sing and play.”

“Hey shut up!” Jeremy flustered, shoving at Matt who only laughed.

“Seriously though, you should at least think it over with your band mates.”

“Yea, ok.” grumbled Jeremy. “Where is Ryan anyway? I want to say hi before I go hide away in the back.”

“He's over at the front working on the display case.”

“Thanks man.”

“Oh and Jeremy, nice hair. The red looks good.”

“Thanks.” Jeremy waved off then left. That's when Jon finally chimed in.

“So when you said his eyes were red...”

“Yep.”

\----------

The battle of the bands was set to take place next month. Just enough time for people to sign up and practice whatever they wanted to do for the show. The owners even put up a thousand dollar prize to the winner. Since they were the ones giving the prize they wanted to be there to help judge the event. Though they also wanted to take the audience's opinion into consideration when deciding as well.

Ryan was most likely going to be kept busy that day to where he might not get to fully enjoy it like he would want. There was one act in particular that he wanted to see. But he had a job to do. Hopefully if he did his job right Ryan could at least see his one act. But that wasn't here or now at the moment. Right now, Ryan was with Alfredo and Sarah working on the special menu for the event. 

The menu was close to a bar food kind of menu, when compared to what they more often serve. They usually only serve wings, pizza and sandwiches, then everything else was mostly snacks and desserts. For this event they needed to serve things that were serve and easy to eat when in a packed venue full of people. It would also make things in the kitchen much easier with a menu like this. They were going to have nachos, sliders, mini corn dogs even. It was going to be all limited time stuff, but it could also serve to see if any of these items could be used again. The others had been saying for a long time now that they should have milkshakes, so now they were finally getting that. 

“We still need a few more.” said Sarah. “What if we did our usual chicken wings too? We don't have to have a big menu or anything. But I do thing we could use a few more things.”

“We could also do jalapeno poppers and street tacos. Those, plus drinks and milkshakes should be enough to give people a variety to choose from.” Alfredo suggested.

“That sounds like and good and plenty. We just need to cook it all up and taste test it all.” Ryan was taking all this down on the tablet so nothing could be forgotten. Plus it let everyone see it in one place and they could leave any notes if they wanted.

“We need an outside party for trying the food. We all know we like the food we cook, but we need to make sure it good enough for our customers.” That was true. They needed people who they could trust to be honest and unbiased when trying the new food items for them. “You guys start cooking, I think I know just the group to do taste testing for us.”

Ryan walked out of the kitchen and headed out towards the guest rooms. As he walked through he felt his eyes burning again. But since the last time Ryan has made sure to be carrying eye drops with him. He dropped a few in each eye before continuing with what he was doing.

In one room was Jeremy, Michel and Gavin; all just sitting around as Jeremy had his guitar. “Good. Just the group I was hoping to find.” said Ryan as he entered the room. As he walked in Ryan noticed something else about Jeremy. His hair was blue. Not just any blue, it was electric blue. “You changed your hair again.”

“Oh, yeah. I've been doing that a lot lately.” Jeremy said sheepishly.

“Don't think I've ever seen this shade of blue on a person before.”

“Is it bad?”

“Oh no! I didn't mean that negatively. It's just different.” The two were bumbling around each other and it was adorable for about five seconds. It ended by Michael suddenly getting up and interrupting it.

“You said you were hoping we'd be here? What do you want besides hair tips?” He asked, with only slight annoyance. Ryan felt embarrassed for the distracted rambling he now noticed he was doing.

“Right. I need your help tasting food we plan to serve during our battle of the bands. It's nothing too crazy but we just want to be sure everything not only tastes good, but fits the kind of food you would find at an event like this.” Ryan hasn't been to any kind of concert since he was a teenager. That was the closest thing he could compare this too. The others helped so he knew it couldn't be that weird of a menu. But he still worried, as he often did.

“Free food? Hell yeah.” cheered Michael. Quickly he was shoved by Gavin.

“Don't listen to him Ryan. Of course we'd like to help. Not just for free food. Right Jeremy?” Gavin nudged at Jeremy who had been staring at Ryan.

“Y-yeah totally. We come here all the time, so we should help out whenever asked.”

“Thanks guys. When we have it ready we'll bring it over.” Ryan started to head out but before doing he turned back real quick.

“Your hair does look nice though. I mean it.” And then he left.

When the door closed behind Ryan, Michael and Gavin turned to Jeremy. Both looking very smug. “Not one word. Don't you dare.” Jeremy grumbled.

“He likes Jeremy's hair.”

“Too bad he didn't notice Jeremy getting lost in his eyes.”

“Can it you two!”

\----------

The rest of the time went by rather quickly. Suddenly the month was gone and it was time for their battle of the bands. Nothing started until around five but people showed up early to find good spots for watching the bands play. The bands and acts all showed up early too, but that was for stage prep and going over call times.

They had all the employees come in just in case things got overwhelming. Based on the current state of the cafe, they were going to need everyone. There were a lot of their regulars, plus a good crowd of new people. It was a success before a single song was sung. The owners were already talking to Ryan about future events they could do.

Ryan wasn't paying attention to that right now. He was helping with set up on stage. His first break wasn't until show time. Fiona volunteered to MC so he knew things were in good hands. Ryan took this chance to make sure the floor was taken care of while Sarah handled the kitchen.

He was moving out of a small group of people, but still managed to bump into someone. “I'm sorry. I didn't see you there.”

“I thought you said you would never tell a short joke.” Ryan turned to the person and saw it was Jeremy he had bumped into.

“Oh damn, sorry Jeremy. Didn't recognize you with the beanie.” Ryan looked curious when he noticed that. “You don't normally wear hats.”

“True, but it's a surprise. For when I play.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and actually, I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to find you before I went on.” Jeremy admitted. “I wanted to tell you that if I win, there's something I want from you.”

“Like a bet?” Ryan laughed. “Well what would happen on the off chance that you don't win?”

“Hmm didn't think about that. Guess I just gotta win and I won't have to think about that.” Jeremy looked at Ryan right in the eyes, a big grin on his face. “It'll be our best show yet.” He left with his bright smile to go find his group. As he left Ryan couldn't help but wonder what Jeremy wanted for him that he had to make a wager out of it.

The bands that played weren't too bad. At least by Ryan they weren't. There were a variety in style and genre, singe acts and full groups. It was turning out to be a really great show. 

Jeremy and his band were one of the last ones to perform. Once they were on stage Jeremy ripped the beanie off his head, showing off the purple and orange hair that was underneath. The top was purple while the sides and back were orange. 

Now Ryan has heard Jeremy sing before, but he never heard him and his band perform. Full instruments, equipment and staging. Before it was just Jeremy and his guitar. One could say it might be personal bias that this was Ryan's favorite band tonight. But he didn't care.

Once the song was over and the cheers and applause died down, the band exited the stage. Ryan found Jeremy as quickly as he could. “Jeremy that was amazing. You were great up there.”

“Yeah? You think we did alright?”

“More than alright. That was the best I've ever heard anyone in here play.” Jeremy blushed at Ryan's praise. “You could have been playing here all this time. Why hadn't you done so until now?”

“I don't know. Just never really thought about it.” Jeremy mumbled. “Between our music and my job, plus other life stuff. We just never talked about it.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Ryan interrupted with a sudden thought. “I wanted to tell you that I think this hair color is the best one on you. It reminds me of a rising sun after a night sky.”

“Oh, thanks. That makes it sound way color than it is.”

“I hope you keep this one longer than you did the past couple colors.” Ryan doesn't think he ever saw a person change hair colors as much as Jeremy was doing. Fiona changed hers quite a bit, but that was more extensions and styles than colors and dyes.

“Well, there's a reason for why I went a little overboard with the hair colors. It's actually related to the thing I wanted to tell you if I won.” Jeremy admitted.

“Why do you need to win to tell me? I mean, I think you have a good chance at winning. But you can tell me now regardless.” said Ryan. “I didn't think you would feel like you would need to make a wager to tell me anything.”

Jeremy looked like he was conflicted. But for what? What could it possibly be to have Jeremy so concerned about it? “The reason I kept changing my hair was because I was trying to see if the person I liked was my soulmate.”

Oh. Soulmate. Right

Ryan never thought Jeremy would care about that stuff. He thought the hair dye was just something fun he was doing. “Did their eyes change?”

“They did.”

So Jeremy found his soulmate. He knew there was no chance that could be him. It was a nice daydream while it lasted. Hopefully they could at least stay friends like they were. “I'm happy for you. I'm glad you found your partner.” Ryan said weakly.

Ryan's head went static. He felt deflated. He knew never to get his hopes out about things, but he couldn't help it with this. Jeremy was just so amazing. How could he not fall for him? A good looking guy with a warm and bright personality. He never would admit to having the crush out loud, but he knew he had a crush on Jeremy. Ryan was just staring off now. His brain went dead the second Jeremy said he found his soulmate. He was looking at Jeremy, watched his mouth move, but he heard nothing of what the other was saying. 

Jeremy put his hands on Ryan, trying to see if he was alright. But the man just stood there. He thinks Jeremy say his name. “I'm sorry, what did you say?”

“I said!_” Jeremy groaned as he suddenly pulled Ryan by his shoulders and pulled him down into a kiss. The second their lips touched there was a big flash of light that came from both their eyes. It was like a rainbow flood light went off.

The two pulled away to rub at their eyes. As soon as they could though they stopped to look at the other. Jeremy's eyes grew darker, turning into a soft chocolate brown. Ryan's eyes turned into a delicate light blue.

“I'm sort of lost.” Ryan said when he finally spoke. “You said you found your soulmate.”

“Yeah, it's you. I was trying to tell you that you're my soulmate Ryan.” Ryan heard Jeremy's words but still didn't understand. Jeremy oddly enough was laughing at the confusion. “I kept dying my hair because I wanted to see if your eyes would change too.”

“What? Why would you do that?” 

“Because I have a big, dumb crush on you.” Jeremy blushed as he looked away.

“Oh.” Wow Ryan really missed that one. He blushed too as he felt embarrassed about the whole ordeal. He looked around and noticed some people were staring at them. I mean who wouldn't when the spectacle of soulmates meeting happens. Ryan took Jeremy's hand and pulled them towards and back and into the office.

“Ryan, when was the last time you looked in the mirror?” Jeremy asked.

“This morning when I shaved.”

“No, I mean really looked. Like enough to notice your freaking eyes changed colors.”

“I never really do that.” Ryan shrugged. “I never paid it any mind.”

“Matt warned me about that.” Jeremy said with a sigh. “He said you didn't think it was worth worrying over. That you would meet your soulmate when the time came on it's own.”

“Pretty much.” Ryan never realized how sort of cheesy and fairy tale his reasoning sounded.

“He also told me you had a crush on me.”

“W-what?!”

“Actually, Matt was the one who helped me come up with this crazy scheme. When I told him my idea it was after that did he tell me that you felt the same way towards me.” Jeremy's face was all pink as he revealed his plan. Ryan was no different. He really was oblivious not to notice how Jeremy felt.

“I'm such an idiot.” He groaned as he buried his face in his hands. 

“Only a little.” Jeremy teased. “The others told me how your eyes had been burning lately and then they noticed the change. The eye burning was my fault too most likely.”

“How so?”

“I read that it takes a bit of time for eyes to change when a soulmate dyes their hair. That when the eyes go through the change there is a chance of irritation and burning of the eyes. And since I was changing my hair so much in a somewhat short amount of time, it must have been a real annoyance for you. Sorry.” Jeremy gave an apologetic smile, taking one of Ryan's hands into his. Ryan looked down at the joined hands.

“Well, I guess the pain was worth it then.” Ryan smiled, looking up at Jeremy and his beautiful eyes. The two shared another kiss and laughed together. “So, want to go see who won?”

“I'd say I already won, and that I got the best damn prize right here.”

“You calling me a trophy spouse?”

“Maybe.”

The two laughed and teased as they made their way back out to the floor. Turns out Jeremy and his band did end up winning. Jeremy knew exactly what to do with his share of the prize money.

He was going to take his new found soulmate out on the most amazing date ever.

**Author's Note:**

> In the middle of still trying to post all the prewritten stuff I have that I think is worth posting, I stopped to write this. I got the idea from when I read a different soulmate AU recently. Different take on it, but it is the same pairing as the one that inspired this.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed it.


End file.
